the names and numbers of each clan among some four hundred and fifty of his acquaintances in that city. It will be observed that the Lí clan outnumbers any other. In New York city, the Chiús predominate, numbering some five hundred souls.

The members of a clan unite when necessary for mutual defense or to redress a wrong done to one of their number; the ties and obligations of the clan, however, are much stronger among the Sinning people than those of the northern districts. Very slight disagreements between individuals among them are frequently taken up by their respective families and made the subjects of long and bitter quarrels—meetings are held, large sums of money subscribed, and feuds perpetuated that may have been carried on for ages at home.

The immigrants are nearly all agriculturists, with a small sprinkling of artisans and shopkeepers, some of whom have served an apprenticeship in Canton or Hong Kong after leaving their native villages. They are nearly all single men, who left their homes at an early age before the usual time among them for contracting marriages. 2 Some have wives and children in China, and many of the more successful go home to marry and then return again to America; but wives and children are never brought with them, and there are few native women among them, except in San Francisco and the cities of the western coast.

The first considerable emigration of Chinese to America occurred at the time of the discovery of gold in California in 1849. Many then sought their fortunes there, and the stream of emigration, once started, was much increased by the disturbed condition of the southern provinces during the next decade. The Triad Society, a secret order opposed to the present Manchu dynasty, seized upon the time when the government was engaged in combating the Tai Ping rebellion in the north and raised an insurrection. This was subdued, but with much bloodshed, and thousands of the rebels sought refuge in America, with many others who were ruined by the outbreak.

The first appearance of the Chinese in any numbers in our Eastern cities dates from about the year 1870. Before that time an occasional Chinaman found his way here as cook or steward on some incoming vessel, and a little colony